Training. It can't hurt, right? [Mod]

[Longcat Haz Long]

It was a nice and quiet evening and a cold one at that. Hanzoku's unguided and practically goalless journey brought him here by a frozen pond. Actually, it looked like a miniature swamp. He sat indian style (And doggie style...hehe...for Zorua.) before it, along with his Riolu and Zorua. Shift, his Zorua, sat by his right, while Shadow sat by his left. Lined up, they meditated together, their breathing synchronized and full. They would definitely spend their night here in the relentless cold. Hanzoku thought it would help build character to a degree. It was important to embrace the good and harsh aspects of nature, he thought.

In their meditations, they saw nothing creative. In fact, all they saw was the land they were facing but in their minds. It was a way to take in their surroundings mentally and become more in tune with it. In all fairness, it wasn't their style to practice any form of meditation, but it was time for change, which was the main reason for their journey in the first place. However, it wouldn't likely take much to interrupt their trance. They were new to the experience....Struggling, in fact. Shadow was having trouble keeping his eyes closed "gently". He was forcing his eyes shut the entire time, afraid that if he was too relaxed, he'd open his eyes by accident. Shadow wasn't comfortable over all. Something about the position just bothered him. As for Hanzoku...In the back of his mind, he kept worrying he'd have an itch in this time....And he did....He had many. Especially on his nose. Every few seconds, he'd screw his face up trying to relieve the itch some how. And let's not forget how friggin' cold it was. Who the hell does that? Meditate in the cold? As the narrator, I declare these three retarded.

[Jay]

Far off in between two winding trees, a Gastly could be seen with his eyes shut and his mouth lopsided. Was he meditating as well? No it was far more likely that he was actually asleep and had found a nook of sorts in which to keep himself protected in case anyone had tried to attack him while he was asleep. What appeared to be another Gastly could be seen slowly slinking over to her friend wearing a devious smile even as she did so.

A bit closer but harder to actually see, a Sneasel was carving something into a tree with careful slow cuts. Whatever he was doing, it seemed that he was trying to be very precise about it.

[Longcat Haz Long]

Shadow was getting used to relaxing his eyes.....But he did open them by accident. He gasped, which brought Shift and Hanzoku out of their meditation. "Really? Why'd you interrupt?!" he asked the Riolu, who pointed at the two Gastly ahead. Hanzoku and Shift's eyes followed the direction the the two Pokemon. One was clearly sleeping while the other tried to sneak up on it.

Perfect. It was a perfect opportunity to catch not one, but two Pokemon! They had to act fast and quietly. "Shift, use agility to get over there quickly and use Night Daze at a close distance on the sleeping one. When the they're both distracted by Shift, I want you to come around from the side and use Shadow Claw on the sneaking Gastly. Go!" he instructed quietly.

Shiftbegan to run, accelerating quickly from the use of agility. He was only ten feet away when an shockwave of darkness emitted from his feet toward the Gastly. Meanwhile, Shift was circling his way to the sneaking Pokemon. As the Shockwave crept closer, Shadow's hand had an ominous dark glow to it as he raised his hand and brought it down with extended ominous claws at the Gastly's back.

[Jay]

The Night Daze hit the sleeping Gastly hard, and he was jutted away rather quickly by the pain. Crying out startled, he shook his head feeling suddenly very exhausted. That wasn't cool! He'd been sleeping! What was going on? Looking around startled and confused, the Gastly finally settled his sight on a Zorua? <Hey what was that for?> he asked shaking his head/body a little. <Ya could have just woken me up a different way mannnnn> he groaned.

Meanwhile, the female Gastly who had caught sight of the attack had retreated a little and thus didn't even notice when a Shadow Claw hit her. Crying out startled, she whipped around without a second notice and unleashed a Psychic attack making to throw the puppy back against a tree for his attack.

[Longcat Haz Long]

Shift had no sympathy for the sleeping Gastly. The Pokemon was in a clearing, and it should have known better than it's attacker, the dangers of such an act. The Zorua simply smirked and awaited his next command.

Meanwhile, satisfied with his sneak attack, he was prepared for retaliation. As the Psychic attack was made, Shadow jumped swiftly, where he hoped to receive an order from Hanzoku, who was very in sync with the two as the battle began.

"Shift, surround him with Double Team and use Shadow Ball! Shadow, Toxic and then Blaze Kick!" their trainer ordered quickly. As Hanzoku was finishing his command to Shadow, Shift had already initiated the Double Team, moving in a fast circular pattern to confuse his intentions from Gastly. From the Gastly's right side, however, a dark blob of energy came at him, threatening to deliver another good blow if he was too tired to focus.

Shadow threw up a loose bit of toxic liquid from above as he prepared his foot for a heel-drop Blaze Kick. As he came back down, his leg was extended as far as possible. He knew it would be harder to land a hit so quickly since the last one. This Gastly was much more alert and ready to defend herself than the other. Shadow, being a fighting type, knew he had his work cut out for him.

[Jay]

The formation of the clones caused the male Gastly to look confused, and his head darted around this way and that, but as the Shadow Ball came at him, he simply seeped into the ground and disappeared, avoiding the attack and appearing to have left the battle field. O...k? That... was odd.

Meanwhile, the Psychic had done a bit of damage, becoming a grazing blow rather than one full on, and as the Toxic came at her, the female Gastly just smirked and formed a Curse before laying it on the pup. The Blaze Kick did a bit of damage but considering it was a fire type move, it wasn't super effective.

[Longcat Haz Long]

How...Strange. But Gastly couldn't just be gone...Or so Shift wanted to believe. He and Hanzoku, despite the event, kept their guard up...Just in case. What an odd maneuver...

Shadow was still busy with his battle, though. He was loosing his handle on things, now that he had been cursed. It wasn't all bad. Shadow would loose health over time while Gastly was weakened by it as well. "Work up and Poison Jab!" Hanzoku said. Naturally, Shadow focused on his desire to take this ghost out, allowing him to put his all into his attacks. He ran forward with a bubbling purple fist. As he threw his fist, he felt a sharp pain throughout his body, draining a bit of his health.

[Jay]

The Gastly was seriously gone, seriously, and the clock ticked by with no sign of him.

Being a partial poison type pokemon, the female Gastly who was left fighting wasn't hurt much by the Poison Jab, and even the poison that made her cringe wasn't terrible just yet. After a moment, she formed another Psychic and made to throw the puppy.